Discussion Locked

System stops responding

0 helpful

8 replies

by djdaws Jul 7, 2002 last reply Oct 6, 2002

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I have a new P4/2.2 running Windows XP professional. On Friday, my system went into suspend mode as scheduled through power management. However, it would not return to operational status. I had to restart. Ever since it now hangs after 3 to 5 minutes of use. I stopped all power management functions. It also stops responding at a commmand prompt before loading Windows or any video/audio drivers.

8 replies

by csmith Jul 7, 2002

This is usually a corrupt Registry. (OS problem)
The first troubleshooting step is, unfortunatly, reload WinXP.
It can also be a corrupt driver.
The long hang at the command prompt is typical when Windows has a problem loading a driver.
Regards,Christopher

by csmith Jul 9, 2002

Got your message.
This is most likely a very hard to remove boot sector virus.
The problem is that, when you boot a PC with WIN95 or higher, Part of the boot routine of the floppy is to read the boot sector of the Hard Drive.
When this occurs, OUCH! , you now have the virus in memory, and the PC freezes.
We keep a box of old 500 MEG - 1 GIG hard drives for this problem.
Disconnect the HD and put in the spare as the boot drive.
Load WINXP and AntiVirus on the spare.
Turn off the PC, and plug the regular HD into the secondary IDE channel. Boot on the spare.
Run the AntiVirus, loaded on the spare, to scan the regular Large Hard Drive.
It should be able to clean it.
You may have to SYS the regular HD after this.
You will have to getrid of the virus, even if you format the regular hard drive.
If the Antivirus can not remove the virus, only zero filling the drive can get rid of some of the really tough boot sector viruses. Fortunately they are rare.
Regards, Christopher